Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah is understandably upset after his efforts to see a BJP-led government rule in Karnataka failed. The BJP president had a governor who supported them, but Supreme Court spoiled the game. Yeddyurappa ended up being a chief minister for merely 55 hours and Shah is not able to digest the defeat. In a press conference on Monday, Shah ended up repeatedly calling the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance, which he completely failed to end in the southern state as “unholy”.
Here are the key highlights of Shah’s speech:
1) “Congress & JD(S) formed an alliance against the people’s mandate. This is what I call an unholy alliance. But, the people of Karnataka are not really celebrating. They are not happy,” Shah said.
He conveniently forgot that voters didn’t give the BJP 113 seats and hence they couldn’t form the government. Also, the celebration stopped mid-way at the BJP office on result day, maybe Shah is upset about that.
2) No one will be the dominating party. Both of them have conned people. They will later come to know the pros and cons of this unholy alliance. Domination doesn’t come with power but with the love of people,” Shah remarked.
Shah failed to elaborate how the Congress-JD(S) MLAs at least managed to not get conned by the BJP.
3) “Congress has falsely claimed that Yeddyurappa ji asked for 7 days, from the Governor, to prove majority. If it was the case, they should have asked for the letter for him. Congress lawyer lied in the Court,” Shah said.
Mukul Rohatgi probably failed to state this point in SC?
4) “Now they (Congress) like EVM and Election Commission. It’s a good sign that Opposition now likes both of them even after what they have in hand is an incomplete victory. All I can say is hopefully they like EVM and Election Commission even when they lose and abide by SC’s order,” Shah said.
The Congress party and other opposition parties didn’t make any comment underlining their new-found love for EVMs. However, Shah’s imagination probably found them doing the talking.
5) “BJP is single largest party in Karnataka, our vote share saw a major increase. The mandate was clearly anti-Congress. What is the Congress celebrating? More than half of their ministers lost,CM lost from one seat.Similarly, why is JDS celebrating? For getting 37 seats?” Shah was quoted as saying.
Reminder: The BJP vote share was less than that of the Congress party. Besides that the BJP vote share was bound to increase as Yeddyurappa’s Karantaka Janata Paksha (KJP) merged with them this time.
6) Did assembling the MLAs at a resort help Congress-JD (S)? Yes, says Shah himself.
“The Congress has sold the entire stable while BJP is accused of buying and selling horses. If Congress and JD(S) would not have held its MLAs hostage, we would have formed the government in Karnataka,” Shah said.